US/IRAQ: If there is a war in Iraq, the pilots and crew of the USS Lincoln are likely to play a large part. Jack Fairweather reports from the carrier in the Gulf
One hundred miles off the Iraqi coast, the pilots and crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln were recovering from a hard night bombing targets in Iraq's southern no-fly zone.
"If some of you wake up this morning feeling like seasoned warriors, there's a reason," said the voice over the PA system during "happy hour", the daily clean-up of the 1,092-ft aircraft carrier.
"Last night more bombs were dropped on target than ever before. Yesterday was a good navy day."
The carrier has been deployed in the northern Gulf since July providing support for coalition forces patrolling the southern zone, one of two set up in 1991 to protect the Shi'ite and Kurdish minorities in Iraq.
In recent months the number of sorties and practice bombing raids - supported by RAF aircraft and refuelling tankers - on airstrips, anti-aircraft and radar positions has more than doubled as American forces continue to gear up for a war against Iraq.
The carrier, which provides a base for more than 80 aircraft - fighters, bombers and reconnaissance planes - will be at the heart of any future military action.
In the event of a war the Abraham Lincoln will be joined by four other carriers currently reported to be moving into the region and begin a devastating air campaign to "soften up" Iraqi defences for a land invasion by American troops.
If proof were needed of how advanced those preparations for war and its aftermath have become, the maps of the no-fly zone in the carrier's control room have been divided into sectors named after American states.
President Bush's home state, Texas, is dotted with pins marking recent air strikes. It is an eerie vision of a US-administered Iraq in the event of Saddam Hussein being removed from power, but one which most of the crew aboard the Abraham Lincoln would welcome.
"We've got this country staked out," said Ken O'Donnell, a pilot fresh from the night's patrolling over Iraq and a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War. "After 12 years of waiting we're ready to get in there and disarm Saddam."
Lieut Keith Pickle, a pilot from California, said: "I don't know what a 'material breach' of United Nations resolutions is, but I can tell you it certainly feels like someone is trying to wage war on you when you're shot at on every patrol. It's pretty hairy out there."
But for the vast majority of the 5,500 crew, the morning bulletin over the PA during "happy hour" and the second-hand "war stories" of the pilots are the closest they come to feeling as if they are in the middle of a theatre of war.
Vince Martin, part of the ordnance team that sends the missiles up to the flight deck from the carrier's main loading bay, has got into the habit of counting the "empty skins" of the missile containers to gauge the size of a bombing raid.
"I want to see all the missiles come back because then it means none of our boys have been shot at," said the ordnance man.
For Karen de la Rosa, an 18-year-old and recent school-leaver, the rumours of war and the intense state of preparedness have proved disorientating.
"I've no idea what's happening," she said. "I just hear the planes launching above my head and pray that no one is going to get killed. I keep telling myself that I'm serving my country." Along with other newly arrived recruits she spends most of her time on cleaning or cooking duties - "chipping paint" as such work is affectionately known - in the labyrinthine passages of the carrier, which extend over 10 decks below water.
Most rarely get to see more than a few minutes' sunlight each day and spend their few hours of relaxation playing computer games, the most popular being a simulation of a UN mission which goes horribly wrong and requires intervention by the American military.
"It helps us visualise what's going on in the outside world when we get to see so little down here," said Jamar Jackson, the carrier's librarian. On the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, three Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders are flying out, along with a Senate delegation, to boost morale and provide some light relief for recruits.
But John Parker, a new arrival from Tennessee, is all set for war. He said: "I've no idea who Hans Blix [the chief UN weapons inspector] is, but if he's the man to give the word for action, then why doesn't he just get the show on the road and give us some action?"